1532: Cabeza de Vaca landed in Texas

“On this day, the Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is shipwrecked on a low sandy island off the coast of Texas.

Starving, dehydrated, and desperate, he is the first European to set foot on the soil of the future Lone Star state.

Cabeza de Vaca’s unintentional journey to Texas was a disaster from the start. A series of dire accidents and Indian attacks plagued his expedition’s 300 men as they explored north Florida.

The survivors then cobbled together five flimsy boats and headed to sea, where they endured vicious storms, severe shortages of food and water, and attacks from Indians wherever they put to shore.

With his exploration party reduced to only 80 or 90 men, Cabeza de Vaca’s motley flotilla finally wrecked on what was probably Galveston Island just off the coast of Texas.”